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She punched the access code into the keypad and opened the door. Jordan crossed the threshold, and immediately shut the door behind him, securing it once more.
“It hadn’t occurred to me that you might own a gun.”
Chloe shook her head. “I don’t.”
He prowled toward her, his footsteps sending shivers down her spine. “How’s your day been, nice and quiet?”
“Yeah. Not much happening. What about you?”
“Colorado was pleasant enough. I watched a lot of news and surfed the entertainment gossip sites on my way back, you know, just to kill the time. Slow news day.”
Chloe blinked back tears. Her joking bravado was fading fast. “Yeah, you could say that.”
Jordan held out his arms. Hot tears were falling as Chloe stepped into his embrace. He wrapped her up in his warmth and safety. “It’s alright. I’m here for you now, sweetheart.”
“Jordan. I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how to tell you about the money. You tried to get me to listen to you about Marta and the others.”
His hand rubbed up and down her back, and Chloe closed her eyes. “It’s not your fault. They had you where they wanted, and you were alone. I’m the one who let you down. I should have stayed.”
She clung to him like a limpet. “And then I wrote that song about you and made it all so much worse. Oh, Jordan.”
“Yeah, you did. And it was shitty for a time. ButBitter Babeis now your biggest hit, and as much as I hate it, I’m going to have to get used to hearing it. That’s of course if you want me to stick around.”
Chloe drew back, gazing up at Jordan through the sheen of her tears. “Of course I want you to stick around. You know I love you.”
“I love you too. I should have said that a long time ago. I love you and I will never fail you again.”
CHAPTERFIFTY-SIX
If they were ever going to have a real chance at a future together, she was going to have to lay it all out for Jordan. Tell him everything. While he sat at one end of the couch, a bottle of fancy Japanese sparkling water in hand, Chloe took a seat at the other end, and began.
“Just before Christmas I got served a summons for an unpaid debt. When I got in touch with the debt collectors, I discovered I owed a lot of people a lot of money. After that, things unraveled pretty quickly, in fact so fast that I ended up running away from home.”
Saying it now, it sounded all so vanilla and plain, but at the time her world had been crumbling around her.
He nodded. “I can see how you might have had to do that, as I recall Marta was always watching your every move. I used to hate it when she suddenly appeared from out of nowhere in your house.”
“Turns out Marta and Gabriela were helping themselves to my money. Treating it as their own.”
Jordan let out a foul curse under his breath.
“My accountant says all the evidence points to them working in cahoots with Foster.” Chloe took a sip of her bottle of water. “People throw the word gaslighting around as a bit of a joke, but I know that’s what my life has been. I was so busy worrying about the music and touring, that I let other people take care of my finances. They dictated my entire life.”
“And when you wanted to look at your finances, did they try to stop you?”
“They tried, yeah. That’s when I realized just how deep they had sunk their claws into me.”
She’d asked Jordan to keep his distance for this conversation, not wishing to have her need for his comfort cloud her thoughts. He’d accepted those wishes. It was refreshing to have someone in her life who respected her boundaries.
“But you got out from under them. You fired Foster and the others. You got new legal representation along with a kick ass manager. Dad said Nancy was a tough negotiator. As I recall you were all over the contract that you signed with Royal Resorts. That’s fantastic. I’m really proud of you, Chloe.”
She didn’t feel proud of herself. Her money issues were on their way to being solved, but Marta had done some real damage with her accusations of Chloe being a liar. The members of Chloe’s Garden would want answers.
“Did you hear the rest of what Marta said about me? That I’d made up my backstory, and I had lied to my fans.”
“Yes. It was nasty, and personal.” There was an edge of simmering outrage in his voice. “She may as well be wearing a printed T-shirt that reads ‘bitch on the hunt for revenge’. I’m assuming you’re going to set your legal people on her. If you want, I’m more than happy to sit with you when you do.”
Chloe swept her fingers through her hair. The money was one thing, having her past dragged up for everyone to rake over and give their unwanted opinion of was the pits. She’d always known this day would come, but had hoped that when it did, she would be the one controlling the narrative.
